Rescue System Faulted

Isle Of Wight Under Fire Again

April 18, 2001|By PHILLIP TAYLOR Daily Press

CARROLLTON — After a day of post-Thanksgiving hunting yielded a five-point buck and a doe, Andrew Sustare stepped into his Carrollton home and began sweating profusely. When he felt familiar pains through his arms and in his chest, he knew he was having his second heart attack.

Twelve minutes after a call to 911, members of the Isle of Wight Volunteer Rescue Squad arrived. Sustare's relief turned to worry when he realized the crew only had training in basic life support. That meant they weren't authorized to start intravenous solutions or administer certain medicines.

"Oh my God," Sustare thought to himself after the crew loaded him into an ambulance. "I'm on my own."

He made it to the hospital, but his heart stopped in the emergency room. He survived, but today lives with a titanium pacemaker in his chest. Sustare, whose physical activity is severely curtailed, wonders if response had come from an advanced life-support crew -- one that could have at least given him an aspirin -- would he still be able to enjoy a day of hunting.

"I live in fear today because I don't know if calling 911 will help me next time," he said.

Sustare's complaints come more than a year after the Isle of Wight Rescue Squad bore intense criticism for failing to respond to two emergencies that ended in death. On Feb. 17, 2000, George Taylor, a 55-year-old Rushmere man, died at his home after dispatchers couldn't reach an ambulance crew. On Sept. 15, 1999, a crew never responded to calls from a Brewer Place woman about her husband. Wayne Houston died five days later.

The county responded by bolstering the county's two rescue squads with paid part-time crews trained in advanced life support. Today, the county pays part-time salaries for 40 such personnel at Isle of Wight and Windsor rescue squads and the Smithfield and Carrollton volunteer fire departments.

Sustare contends that hasn't been enough. He plans to address the county Board of Supervisors on Thursday to urge them to staff the squads with round-the-clock, ALS support.

"When it came my time, all I got was a blanket and a ride," he said.

But rescue workers and county officials contend their patients, including Sustare, get the best care available at the time. Capt. Phil Goodwin said the squad, staffed mostly with volunteers, doesn't always have advanced life support workers available. He said Sustare was in the hospital within 45 minutes of his call, a quick ride for a hospital some 15 miles away.

"Sometimes people blame us for everything," Goodwin said, "because we're the easiest one to blame."

Richard Childress, the county's director of emergency management, said the county continues to explore ways to put more ALS workers on the squad. Presently, paid personnel work shifts from about 10 p.m. to 8 a.m. from Sunday through Thursday.

Childress said squad leaders have begun asking for ALS providers on other shifts when they have difficulty covering them with volunteers.

"And we can usually provide that," Childress said.

But Sustare said that isn't enough. He said ALS providers should be available around the clock and that he wouldn't mind seeing his taxes raised to do that.

Until then, he said he might think twice before calling 911.

"If I had another emergency, would I get ALS or BLS?" Sustare said. "I wouldn't want to take the gamble. I wouldn't take the chance."

Phillip Taylor can be reached at 357-6392 or 247-4926 or by e-mail at prtaylor@dailypress.com